Page 53 of A Fae in Finance
“An abyss,” I repeated. “Sahir, I don’t—” I started, but he cut me off.
“I went to your room, and saw Gaheris and Lene on your bed with the cat. I was delayed in finding you because I had to close one of Gaheris’s portals, which had unleashed two-thirds of a swamp into your bedroom.”
“How do you know it was Gaheris’s portal?”
He gave me a withering look. “You think you have the only cat in this entire Court?”
I stared back at him, uncowed. “How do you know it was two-thirds of a swamp, and not just half?”
He sighed. I thought Sahir should probably just record himself sighing so he didn’t destroy his lungs, what with all the deep breaths and audible exhales. “Gaheris is so bad with coordinates that I sometimes wish somebody would invent a new type of portal magic for him.”
“That’s not very nice,” I said.
He rolled his eyes. “We all have strengths and weaknesses. Gaheris is a fire faerie with death magic in his blood. If he persists in his architectural pursuits, he will undermine the integrity of the building.”
The smug superciliousness in his tone made me want to punch his other eye so he would have matching bruises.
And then I felt a wave of guilt. His eye was black because of me, and he apparently also felt random and disruptive emotions during the workday because of me. “Why do you think you sensed danger?” I asked. “At least I can try not to set it off again.”
Sahir pushed my door open, revealing the two faeries pretty much where I had left them, sitting up against the headboard with Doctor Kitten between them. Gaheris had extended his left arm as a sort of pin-cushion-slash-teddy-bear, and Doctor Kitten hugged it, claws out. I winced.
“Miriam,” Lene greeted me, sounding cheerful, if slightly surprised, to see me in my room.
“What’s up, Lene?” I said.
“The roof,” she said, pointing up. I glanced up at the striated rock and dirt on the ceiling.
“That’s a good point,” I said. “Thank you.” Doctor Kitten lifted his head and looked at me, his eyes slits. His loyalty had apparently shifted.
“Miriam—” Sahir started. I cut him off, shamed by my cat.
“Lene, when humans saywhat’s up, they meanwhat are you doingorhow have you been,” I explained. Doctor Kitten blinked once in slow approval.
“Please,” Sahir said. “We have much to discuss.”
Gaheris nodded from next to Lene. “If I had known this, I would have explained it,” he said.
Sahir lost what remained of his composure and exploded into tendrils of brown smoke, tangled like the branches of creeping wisteria.
“We need to talk, Miriam,” the vaguely human-shaped smoky mass of vines said. I saw an arm try to coalesce and fail.
“Okay! Of course,” I said, pretending not to be terrified.My dad says I’m good in a crisis, I’d told the Gray Knight. And Iwasgood in a crisis. I kept my voice steady and calm. “Let’s talk.” I reached toward him, palm up. “Just… just hold my hand, and we can sit down and talk.”
One tentative vine crept toward my hand, and then around my palm, solidifying as it did so. The smoke tickled, and it was a relief when it coalesced. Within seconds, I had a living wooden glove. I exhaled, a loud, steady sound, as the tip of the vine crept over my wrist, at the pulse point. I lowered myself to the floor, and the vine came with me.
“I have not seen him sublimate in decades,” Gaheris said, peering down at us. “Not since he had just come to Court.”
“That’s a great vocabulary word,” I said, keeping my tone even. “Sahir, what do you want to talk about? It seems like you’re a little overwhelmed.”
The disembodied voice came again. “You cannot just trust anybody who speaks kindly to you, Miriam. People will want to take advantage of you, of your naivety. The Princeling has raised you up, but there are faeries who want him to fail.”
“Fail as in,people don’t like me?”
“Fail as in, faeries kill you,” Lene chimed in, helpfully.
“Which is why my friends came to spend time with you today,” Sahir said, his voice remarkably stern, given its source.
I stared at the mass of half-corporeal vines that was Sahir. A few more vines solidified. The one holding my hand had started to sprout leaves.
